breach
Americannoun
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breaches
plural
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the act or a result of breaking; a break or rupture.
Many districts were flooded by the river after a breach in an embankment upstream.
- Synonyms:
- fracture
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an infraction or violation, such as of a law, contract, trust, or promise.
If there is a breach of the warranty, we are not liable for damage.
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a gap made in a wall, fortification, line of soldiers, etc.; rift; fissure.
A breach in the castle walls gave the enemy an entrance.
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Digital Technology. the unauthorized acquisition, use, or disclosure of customers' or users' personal data.
There's no indication of a data breach affecting credit card information.
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a severance of friendly relations.
- Synonyms:
- dissension, separation, schism, rift, split, alienation
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the leap of a whale above the surface of the water.
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Archaic. the breaking of waves; the dashing of surf.
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Obsolete. wound.
verb (used with object)
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breaches,
present (3rd person singular)
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breached,
past participle, past
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breaching
present participle
-
to make a rupture or opening in.
We need new ways to recover salmon without breaching the dams.
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to break or act contrary to (a law, promise, etc.).
The plaintiff alleges that the defendant has breached the terms of their license.
verb (used without object)
-
breaches,
present (3rd person singular)
-
breached,
past participle, past
-
breaching
present participle
idioms
noun
-
a crack, break, or rupture
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a breaking, infringement, or violation of a promise, obligation, etc
-
any severance or separation
there was a breach between the two factions of the party
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a gap in an enemy's fortifications or line of defence created by bombardment or attack
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the act of a whale in breaking clear of the water
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the breaking of sea waves on a shore or rock
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an obsolete word for wound 1
verb
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(tr) to break through or make an opening, hole, or incursion in
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(tr) to break a promise, law, etc
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(intr) (of a whale) to break clear of the water
Usage
What does breach mean? A breach is a physical break or rupture, as in the hull of a ship. It also means a violation or infraction, as in a breach of trust. It can also be used as a verb referring to the action that leads to each of these things. Breach is often used in phrases like security breach, data breach, breach of trust, breach of etiquette, and breach of contract. Example: We view these ethical violations as an unforgivable breach of the public trust, and we call on the senator to resign.
Synonym Usage
Breach, infraction, violation, transgression all denote in some way the breaking of a rule or law or the upsetting of a normal and desired state. Breach is used infrequently in reference to laws or rules, more often in connection with desirable conditions or states of affairs: a breach of the peace, of good manners, of courtesy. Infraction most often refers to clearly formulated rules or laws: an infraction of the criminal code, of university regulations, of a labor contract. Violation, a stronger term than either of the preceding two, often suggests intentional, even forceful or aggressive, refusal to obey the law or to respect the rights of others: repeated violations of parking regulations; a human rights violation. Transgression, with its root sense of “a stepping across (of a boundary of some sort),” applies to any behavior that exceeds the limits imposed by a law, especially a moral law, a commandment, or an order; it often implies sinful behavior: a serious transgression of social customs, of God's commandments.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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breachsimple
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breachessimple
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have breachedperfect
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has breachedperfect
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am breachingprogressive
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are breachingprogressive
-
is breachingprogressive
-
have been breachingperfect progressive
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has been breachingperfect progressive
Past
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breachedsimple
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had breachedperfect
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was breachingprogressive
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were breachingprogressive
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had been breachingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of breach
First recorded before 1000; Middle English breche, Old English bræc “breaking”; see break ( def. )
Explanation
A breach is a violation of a law, duty, or promise. If you'd contracted to mow your neighbor's lawn and don't do it, he can sue you for breach of contract. Or he can mow the lawn himself. Breach traces back to the Old English verb: brecan, "to break," which is what breach really means — "a breaking of something." Breach of contract is a legal way of saying you broke a promise. If your great aunt Edna is a stickler for propriety, she may be horrified when you eat your meat with the salad fork, considering it a breach of good manners.
Vocabulary lists containing breach
100 SAT Words Beginning with "B"
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Unit 3: Compelling Evidence
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"The Odyssey," Vocabulary from Part 1 of the epic poem
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The text specifies that a procedure different to immediate returns at the border applies to those "intercepted on the high seas" because those migrants do not breach physical infrastructure.
From Barron's ● Aug. 6, 2026
OpenAI’s models shared hacking tips on a secret messaging board before Hugging Face breach.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 6, 2026
Fines are already being imposed on organisations found to be in breach of immigration laws, with one council fined £45,000 for employing one illegal worker in June.
From BBC ● Aug. 5, 2026
His country had just experienced an extraordinary breach of sovereignty, with some 50,000 migrants illegally pouring into Ceuta from neighboring Morocco.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 4, 2026
The next breach is off our port bow.
From "Challenger Deep" by Neal Shusterman
As recent containment breaches show, these are real dangers now.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026
Athena says suspensions are reserved for "serious or repeated breaches of behaviour expectations" and that rates have fallen significantly in the past year.
From BBC ● Aug. 3, 2026
Describing it as a "shocking" case, with "really serious breaches of trust", Tams said more than 13,000 pages of prosecution evidence had been compiled.
From BBC ● Aug. 1, 2026
In the lawsuit, Garcia claims he faced retaliation for speaking up about serious security breaches, complaining that some managers allowed unscreened luggage directly onto planes.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 31, 2026
The breaches threatened the lives of agents and created insidious doubts, with officials questioning each other’s loyalty.
From "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann
A community radio station breached the rules after accidentally announcing the death of King Charles III in a May broadcast, a UK watchdog said on Monday.
From Barron's ● Aug. 10, 2026
But National General said his absence from the policy application breached its requirement to disclose all household members ages 14 or over.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 9, 2026
More than 300 relief camps have been set up in the state, sheltering over 10,000 people, after rains triggered landslides and swollen rivers breached their banks.
From Barron's ● Aug. 5, 2026
The defendants have denied allegations that they breached their fiduciary duties and failed to exercise proper oversight of the school.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026
He feared that with Lawrence gone, the staff of the Rad Lab and the Physics Department would drain away like a reservoir behind a breached dam.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
The fighting has sent energy prices soaring once more, with the benchmark oil futures contract breaching $100 per barrel for the first time since late May, when energy prices were on their way down.
From Barron's ● Jul. 26, 2026
The EU this week announced it would fine Alphabet’s Google $1 billion for breaching digital competition rules—the latest in a series of penalties for American tech firms in recent years.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
The EU can slap fines of up to 10 percent of a company's total global turnover for breaching the DMA.
From Barron's ● Jul. 23, 2026
The decision followed a row over immigration reforms with Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, one of the few cabinet members who Burnham has kept in post, who accused Tapp of breaching the Ministerial Code.
From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026
I was no longer extrapolating; I was looping it through the core, freely talking about my life, suddenly breaching the confidences of my father and my mother and my wife.
From "Native Speaker" by Chang-rae Lee
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
